Paget higgs



(No Model.)

P.. HIGGS.

Thermo-Eleqtric Battery.

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15'. IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII I m H I I I 'H UNITED STATES PATENT DFFICE,

PAGE'lJ-HIGGS, F NEWVYORK, N. Y.

Il-lERMO-ELEGTRIC BATTERY.

SPECIFICATION formin part otiL etters Patent No. 241,559, dated May 24, 1881.

Application filed Februaryll, 1881. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern Be it known that 'I, PAGET HIGGs,-a subject of Great Britain, residing at New York city, in the county and- State ot'rNew York,'

have iuven ted .a new and useful Improvement in Thermo-Electric Batteries,'0f which the following is a-specitication, reference being bad to the accompanying drawings, formlu g a part thereof, in which Figure l-represents the manner of joining together the thermal couples; Fig. 2, a plan view of one battery,"in sufiticient-detail to illus- Hate the principle involved; Fig. 3, a vertical section of the same, and Fig.14 a modification of the arrangement of the thermal couples.

The object of my invention is to adapt the thermoelectric pile to permanent-and constant use, whereby it may be availed of as a battery or generator of a constant and permanent electric current instead of being used, as heretofore, forlaboratory and thermoscopic purposes.

To that end my improvements relate principally to the materials of which the couples are composed and to the arrangements of the couples in the battery, and for maintaining the difference in temperature at the'dili'erentends of the couples.

Though experiments have heretofore been made for determining the electro-motive force of most of the'metals, yet for practical purposes-suchpiles have heretofore been generally constructed of the easily-fusible metalssuch as antimony and bismuth, (Nobili,) galena, zinc, &c.- -or of alloys of similar character. Thesemetals and alloys are subject tovarious objections when so used, arising mainly from their fusible character, and from their being subject to molecular disintegration under the electric action when this action is of amount the basis of one of the elements the commercial iron, which is in allits states more or less combined with carbon and with other impurities, and to coat this, when reduced to suitable'shape, with a plating of pure iron, which may be laid on byelectrolytic action,or otherthe couple is made preferably of German silver or brass, of the desired shape, and is then plated with nickel, preferably by electrolysis.

wise. ,In the same way the other element of A plating constituting about one-third of themass of the plate will be found to give good results, but the proportions may be varied:

under various conditions.

I am aware ,thatin thermoelectric couples "It has before beeu proposedto give mechanical strength to one of the elements by constructing it of a core of steel totally insulated by an enamel coating from an exterior shel|,-in which case the exterior shell alone formed the efiective part of the element by reason of the insolation of the core.

In constructing the battery the couples may be joined in any of the ordinary ways; but I prefer that'which is illustrated in Fig. l of the drawings, and which will bereadily understood by reference to the figure. flhe couples may be made in the form of rings,- in which case Fig. 1 would show a section of one side of the rings. When so constructed, and several couples are superimposed so as to form a pile, the heat may be applied by means of a line or other source of heatin the interior of the rings,

and the outer ends may be kept cool by means of a jacket or surrounding vessel, through which acirculationofwater may be maintained.

Such an arrangement constitutes my improved form of battery, and may be used with couples of any materials, though with the old couples ithwill be subject to the difticulties I have be fore mentioned. Such a battery is shown in a plan view in Fig. 2, and in section in Fig.3. Inthese figures a represents the heating-flue; b, the metallic couples in rings, and c the wator-jacket. The heating-flue is electricall y separated from the pile by a division of mica orv other electric non-conductor, and a similar provision is made to prevent contact of the 'different elements of the couples except at the proper points, a provision which will be readily made by any person familiar with the general subject.

. From the drawings it is seen that theclements are constructed in such a form that one is a plain flat bar'or ring and the other angular, and they may be joined by making grooves in the alternately opposite ends of the flat elemeut, into which the angular ends of the other are fitted. The grooves may be either plain or dovetailed,or partin one wayand part theother, as shown in Fig. 1. This method of making the connections'obviates the uccessityof brazing the elements together.

Fig. 4 shows a variation in which the elements, instead of being arranged in rings around a heating-flue, are constructed of bars. arranged in piles radiating from such a central source of heat. In such an arrangement the sep:

. arate piles should, of course, be electrically con- I am aware that the pile of a thermoelectric battery has been before arranged in a ring around a central heating device, and

this,

therefore, I do not claim; but 35 What I do claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. The combinatiomin a thermoelectric battery, of an element having its surface of chemically pure iron, with one having its surface of nickel, substantially as described, so that the electro-motive force is derived from chemically pure iron and nickel in contact.

-2. A thermoelectric elcment composed of a non-fusible base directly and continuously coated or plated with another metal or alloy.

3. A thermo electric couple-composed of a carbonated iron base coated with pure iron, and an alloyed or compound base infusible at low temperature, coated with nickel.

4. In a thermo electric battery, the couples in rings about a central heating-source, in combination with the water-jacket O, substan tially as described.

5. In a thermoelectric couple, the combination of the central heating-flue, the radiating piles, and the water-jacket O, substantially as described.

6. A thermo-electric couple in which the elements are connected together by a mortised joint, plain or dovetailed, substantially as shown and described. 1

. PAGET HIGGS.

- Witnesses:

WYLLYS EL DGE, WM. HILLIARD. 

